Songs Without Words

[LVB op.57]

I've been looking for a good edition of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, one of my favorite cycles of all time. I know Henle would be ideal, but since it's out of my price range for now, is there any other edition anyone could recommend? Thanks for your help.

[Alde]

I've been looking for a good edition of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, one of my favorite cycles of all time. I know Henle would be ideal, but since it's out of my price range for now, is there any other edition anyone could recommend? Thanks for your help.

I really like working with the Alfred editions.  They are affordably priced with excellent fingerings, biographical, and historical information.

Henle, although quality a edition, is very expensive.

[bernhard]

To my knowledge, the best value edition is the ABRSM, edited by Stewart MacPherson.

There are two versions: soft cover (£12.95), see here:

https://www.abrsmpublishing.com/publications/1690

And a hard cover version (£22.95):

https://www.abrsmpublishing.com/publications/1691


Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[faulty_damper]

Schirmer publishes the complete cycle for $9.95 USD.  What I like about this edition is that it was the only edition I could find that included all of the original editor's titles.  Other editions only included a handful of these titles.  Mendelssohn did not add these titles to them but the original editor thought they would sell better had they had titles.

One of the Songs I like is Lost Illussions or Op. 67 No. 2.  Which sounds better?  An actual title or an opus number?

[LVB op.57]

Thanks for your help everyone. For everyone who has the ASBRM edition, I have a question. Is it one of those annoying books that can't stay open, and then when you try and make them stay open, the binding gets messed up?  , thanks.

[bernhard]

Thanks for your help everyone. For everyone who has the ASBRM edition, I have a question. Is it one of those annoying books that can't stay open, and then when you try and make them stay open, the binding gets messed up?  , thanks.

ABRSM are very good quality binding/printing.

I have the hard cover edition of ABRSM (amongst several others), and I can vouch for it. It is excellent not only in its scholarship, as in the (actually very important) aspect of staying open. I am afraid that the same may not be true in the same degree of the soft cover edition (it does have over 150 pages).

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[bernhard]

Schirmer publishes the complete cycle for $9.95 USD.  What I like about this edition is that it was the only edition I could find that included all of the original editor's titles.  Other editions only included a handful of these titles.  Mendelssohn did not add these titles to them but the original editor thought they would sell better had they had titles.

One of the Songs I like is Lost Illussions or Op. 67 No. 2.  Which sounds better?  An actual title or an opus number?

An opus number sounds better.

Yes, Schirmer is a bargain, but again, Schirmer is notorious for dubious, unreliable editions. Have a look here:

https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/board,2/topic,9669.6.html#msg98222

As for editor subtitles, in almost every case through history, the composers hated them, since they immediately put the music in an interpretational straightjacket. I find the SWW editorial subtitles sickly sweet and ridiculously cheesy. They tell me a lot about what the editor’s mind and almost nothing about Mendelssohn’s music. Mendelssohn himself gave subtitles to only 5 of them:

Op. 19 no. 6 – Venetian Gondola song
Op. 30 no. 6 - Venetian Gondola song
Op. 38 no. 6 – Duetto.
Op. 53 no. 5 – Folk-song
Op. 62 no. 5 - Venetian Gondola song.

Notice that none of the titles has any sentimental connotation whatsoever, being instead quite descriptive of the musical form rather than its emotional content/association. This seems to me that Mendelssohn wanted to keep them as open as possible in that regard.

Looking at these editor’s titles without having listened/played to the pieces as few times is risky business. Just like watching Disney’s “Fantasia”. If you have never listened to Beethoven’s sixth and watch Fantasia, you may be cursed forever with the imagery of dancing hippopotamus associated with it. Using Fantasia to introduce classical music to people (children in particular) is to condemn them forever to Walt’s shallow view of the pieces presented.

On the other hand, if you have explored these pieces and formed your conclusions, looking at these cheesy titles (or Fantasia, for that matter) can be quite amusing and instructive.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[Glyptodont]

Other composers besides Mendelssohn have composed "Songs Without Words."

Is this a "type" of music like "Humoresque", to be written by a number of composers?

[bernhard]

“Song without words” – The term was invented by Mendelssohn, and the idea is to have the piano “sing” a melody over an accompaniment. Perhaps a more precise name would be, “song without voice”.

The style, of course is not new. There are many slow movements is Beethoven sonatas (e.g. op. 79), Schubert Impromptus and Chopin Nocturnes that could be termed Song without words.

Athough most “Songs without words” have been written for piano solo, there are a number of examples in other instruments (e.g. Elsa Snell’s “SWW” for piano and treble recorder).

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[LVB op.57]

Does anyone know anything about the C.F. Peters edition of the SWW?